“Let’s see you do it,” he grumped, despite a tired smile he flashed my way.
Mine was still on the island, so I snatched the metal and lobbed it. The top landed behind the can and I lost sight of it.
Our usual teasing didn’t happen. I could feel the need for normalcy buzzing in the air, but neither of us was able to will it into existence.
“Should we leave KC alone?” I asked, my voice loud in the quiet kitchen.
Ren clenched his hands into fists, then rested his forehead on them. His shoulders were rocks as he shrugged. “He’s out. Exhausted himself.”
“Mm.” I shoved around my empty bottle to get rid of some twitchy energy that reared its ugly head. “He didn’t even look this bad when he was destroyed over you.”
Ren snapped upright with a scowl. As if in retaliation, he snatched the sandwich off my plate that I hadn’t eaten yet and took a big bite. “I’ll fix this.” The words were almost lost in the food, and I glanced away.
“You can’t,” I snapped, unbelievably furious in a matter of seconds. “KC has to do it. You can’t. I can’t. We can’t.”
Ren took another bite of the sandwich. I waited for him to wash the food down with beer, my agitation growing by the second. Ren finally glared at me and slapped the rest of the sandwich on my plate.
“Maybe KC has to go to therapy, but I’ll make sure he has three squares and a spare every day.” He nodded once, then picked up his stolen sandwich again and devoured what was left in a few bites, almost like he thought he could will the food from his stomach to KC’s.
“I... don’t think it will be that easy,” I mumbled.
Ren slapped his hand on the island. “It will.”
“Damn it.” Beautiful, cleansing rage poured through me and I spun toward him. “You’re missing the whole fucking point. KC has to fix his own shit.”
Ren brushed off his hands, glaring at me while he stood, as if I’d caused the problem. “We will change things for him if he can’t manage it.”
I cradled the back of my neck with my hands. Was he for real? “Fine. You can fix this all on your own because you want to. With your big dick energy. That totally makes sense.”
He rolled his eyes and swooped in to kiss my cheek. It kind of hurt because his stubble grated my skin, but I welcomed the lick of pain. “Not on my own, dummy. With you. We’re going to make sure KC is just fine.” He crossed his arms. “Come to bed.”
Irritation prickled my skin and we couldn’t fuck the bad feelings away right now. Or we probably shouldn’t. What was the right thing to do when one of us wasn’t okay? Fuck, either way I wouldn’t get the pain I wanted from Ren. He was back to taunting me with being gentle. It was so fucked up. The worst torture.
Could you safe word out of sweetness?
“In a minute,” I muttered.
Ren dragged his feet as he walked backward away from me, then abruptly spun. “Don’t be long,” he called over his shoulder.
Something that wasn’t quite anger smoldered in my gut. “Why can’t KC just eat?” I spitefully went to the freezer and grabbed a chocolate-and-peppermint ice cream sandwich. I mauled the paper wrapper with my teeth. The sweet treat was gone fast, and I didn’t feel any better afterward.
I can’t lose KC.The strength melted from my body as I turned and sagged against the counter. Sure, things probably weren’t dangerous yet. KC wasn’t a bag of bones. He had a lot of people looking out for him. Everythingfeltdire, though. I would just have to do my best to support any plan KC agreed to. For a few seconds, it felt like my feet weren’t anchored to the floor.
Who the hell was I to be supportive? I had a whole laundry list of my own bullshit that probably wasn’t healthy. With the holiday break looming large, there would be no distraction from this mess, and I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. Sometimes giving a problem too much air was as bad as ignoring it.
The beer and ice cream weren’t leaving my mouth feeling its best, so I cleaned up, turned off the lights, and went to the bathroom. I had my toothbrush in my mouth scrubbing my tongue when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I spat and dragged my phone out, accidentally answering.
“Shoot.” I put the call on speaker. “Hello?” I wiped my face on a hand towel and froze as Mom’s “Oli?” filled the room.
“Mom?”
“Oh my gosh, you picked up!” Tears wavered in her tone.
My gut sank as I stared at the phone on the counter in horror. I had been avoiding this for a reason.
“Oliver? Are you there?” She sounded uncertain.
“Yeah, Mom.”
